Potemkin Village

I live in a neighborhood at the foot of Monticello, in a house built by James Starkes. James was working for the Charlottesville Woolen Mills in 1860, eight years before the mill took that name. Eight tenths of a mile west of the Mill site we have new a new neighbor, the Black Market Moto Saloon. The proprietor of the Saloon hopes to secure a special use permit to operate a Music Hall

September 26, Neighborhood Development Services, in conjunction with Moto proprietor, M. Frankovich, conducted a “sound test”. City Councilors and Planning Commissioners plus police and NDS staff were on hand. Only thing missing was the source of the Moto’s big sound. No drums, no bass, no amps, no musicians on stage. Just a svelte PA system and a dismounted bison head.

What did the sound test find? Moderate sound spillage to the street.

Jessica Cunnington of Channel 19 reporting the Big Story. She said it never got too loud near the “Woolen Hills” neighborhood.

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Author: WmX

I stumbled off the track to success in 1968, started chasing shadows that summer. Since then, In addition to farm-laborer and newspaper photographer my occupational incarnations include dishwasher, janitor, retail photo clerk, plumber, HVAC repairman, auto mechanic, CAT scan technologist, computer worker and politico (whatever it takes to buy a camera.) I am on the road to understanding black and white photography.
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5 thoughts on “Potemkin Village”

My first jobs were in the music business, I played bass (the Ebb Tides) plus worked for “International Productions”, stapling poster-board advertising to utility poles in Richmond. Listened to WANT, WLEE, WGOE, worked for WTJU for free. I like music.
These days I am on the Neighborhood Association Board. My read of our Constitution says protect sleep before protecting partying.

I too was in the music business. Music has been my life, however that’s not what this is about. It makes me sad that everyone feels they have to keep prefacing their comments with pro-music assertions (me included). Allowing this issue to be highjacked by a reductionist argument about music lovers vs music haters, or even more ludicrous, artistic freedom vs stifling of same, does a disservice to the art/music community. Needless to say, it also does a disservice to the concept of neighborhood identity, the right to quiet enjoyment, and so much more.

The photo of the band is inspirational. Have you seen William Eggleston – “The Real World”? Sometimes I think you are going to commit suicide. If that ever happens, just stop feeling. People that feel commit suicide. Just turn it off and get some shut eye. That is one cruel area of the country.

While we greatly appreciate the City’s attempts to sort out this mess via the gathering of data, unfortunately, the data did not reflect the real conditions. Digitally recorded music played from a laptop into a PA system is not live music,
and doesn’t contain the same dynamic range. None of the news stories address the fact that neighbors and bystanders could clearly feel the vibrations from the bass. Nor was it as loud inside as a regular Moto show. These are significant variables that skewed the data.– V. Dunham